CNM Special Edition Update

JumpTV adds Al-Jazeera channel today, while cablecos still waiting on CRTC decision Internet broadcaster JumpTV.com added the Al-Jazeera television channel to its lineup today at a price of US$9.95 a month for high-speed subscribers and US$5.95 a month for dial-up customers, beating Canada’s cablecos to the punch. When contacted by Canadian NEW MEDIA, JumpTV CEO Farrel Miller would not reveal any financial details about the agreement inked with the controversial 24-hour Arabic-language news channel known for airing videotapes featuring interviews with Osama bin Laden. Calling the negotiations with Al-Jazeera “cordial,” Miller said, “It’s important for people to be able to watch live television from different parts of the world. From a Canadian perspective, this is the only way that people will legally be able to watch Al-Jazeera. We’re in the business of distributing live television from all over the world, so we’re just happy to be able to add this channel.” He would not confirm if the deal was based on a revenue-share model. “All our agreements are different and we really don’t comment on the licence relationship that we make with the content providers,” he stated. The Canadian Cable Television Association (CCTA) on behalf of its members and non-member Vidéotron ltée have filed separate applications with the CRTC for authorization to carry several additional foreign TV channels, including Al-Jazeera. The commission has yet to gazette the applications. Miller said there was no particular reason for choosing to add Al-Jazeera to JumpTV’s channel lineup. “Basically, we’re building licence relationships with broadcasters from all over the world. It just happens to be one of the many that we’ve secured. And in the near future, we’re going to be securing many more,” he added. The pricing model for Al-Jazeera follows an existing model for all the other channels currently offered by JumpTV, including Spain’s Canal Vasco, Thailand’s Thai TV Global, Russia’s NTV MIR, and Portugal’s RTPi (CNM, Oct. 3/02). “(Internet broadcasting is) extremely viable. Our audience is global. We’re not just distributing these channels in Canada. We’re distributing them to a worldwide audience, so it’s a whole new medium of delivering television,” Miller said. He noted that JumpTV would be offering packages of channels with better price points in the future as more channels per country are added. “Right now, we’re distributing 20 different channels from 20 different countries, so the Thai people have no interest in the Spanish or Russian channels. But as we add more channels from the same language and country, we will certainly be offering packages,” he said. He would not disclose how many subscribers JumpTV has managed to gain so far. “We don’t disclose that information. It differs from channel to channel. Some are very high and some are very low,” he said. “It’s a whole new form of distribution and obviously it varies from channel to channel so much.” Miller said JumpTV planned to issue a media release with the Al-Jazeera announcement on May 13. For more information on the CCTA and Vidéotron’s applications for authorization to carry additional foreign TV channels, see the April 25/03 issue of CNM affiliate publication Canadian Communications Reports.

CNM Special Edition Update

Broadcast | May 12, 2003

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